Midday Madness

During our recent Aurora trip, we obviously had long hours of daylight when the aurora was invisible. It was usually a good time to get some much-needed sleep after a long night under the sky, but it also offered some great hiking and snowshoeing opportunities. And since the middle of the day is rarely the best time for photography, I didn't think much about pictures. So when my friend Steve Shuey and I stumbled onto this patch of frozen grasses at midday, we didn't even have our cameras with us.

The midday sun had taken these beautifully curved blades of grass (rushes?) and created the most wonderful web of curves and shadows. Seeing an opportunity, we rushed back to get our cameras and spent a happy half-hour searching for compositions among the most simple of visual elements: random lines. (At 40 degrees below zero, a half hour was about all our fingers and toes could stand)

It was an unexpected chance to play with pure design, without any concern for context. In other words, simply good fun.